I suspect airlines are much more willing than most others to game the pricing system.

In Au, we had a law change a number of years ago that re-allowed credit card surcharges at the till, instead of absorbing them. Many retailers promptly added them for Amex (~3%), but far fewer added them for Visa and Mastercard (~1%). It tends to be the ones operating visibly smaller margins. Airlines had a field day. Their credit card surcharge starts at 10% for most cards (they have deals with a specific provider's card for 0% on that, which is how they get away with). The lawmakers are trying to figure out a solid legal way to get them to stop doing that, especially as the number of complaints is steadily rising. They're beginning to consider repealing the surcharge law.

I originally mentioned the retail experience in the US because that represents a mindset: "add up the items, add the taxes" which I can see as part of the problem. Certainly the case of airlines wanting to "unbundle" the taxes strongly suggests this. It's a very American mindset to want to "stick it to the man" by trumpeting loudly to the customers who much the taxes actually are. Which becomes self-perpetuating.

There is no easy solution. Long term, moving away from adding taxes to the total at the end and listing them on the taxed items instead (that's how Australia's GST works), is the most consumer-friendly solution. But it will require a mindset shift for much of the US.

Wade.